China is considering offering unified insurance packages tailored to its overseas workers after nine Chinese were killed in Ethiopia, according to the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC).

The Ministry of Commerce and the CIRC are working on the insurance program for overseas Chinese workers, Jiang Tao, a CIRC official, told Xinhua on Saturday.

As the commercial insurance products on the market are usually exempted from liabilities such as unexpected casualties from armed attacks, wars and plagues, those tailored to needs of overseas workers are not available, Jiang said.

The two departments are also planning to develop special insurance products to cover the specific risks for each batch of overseas workers in the future, Jiang said.

Nine Chinese workers were killed in a recent attack on a Chinese oil company in Ethiopia, with another seven kidnapped during the attack and later released.

(Xinhua News Agency May 6, 2007)